We are overjoyed to announce that pre-ordering LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII will unlock the most epic Final Fantasy weapon and outfit of all time – Cloud Strife’s SOLDIER 1st Class Uniform and Buster Sword! Before you guys go crazy in the comments, here’s what your pre-order will get you:

When you preorder LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII, you will receive the exclusive Cloud Strife SOLDIER 1st Class DLC — straight from Final Fantasy VII — for free! So you’ll get the SOLDIER 1st Class Uniform, Buster Sword, and Soldier Band… but not Cloud’s blocky hands.

We’ve put together a short gameplay trailer that shows off the DLC set and how it helps Lightning get to level 99 quicker. Watch it at the top of this post.

Go ahead, we’ll wait.

Did you catch the last bit? The victory fanfare comes with the Cloud Strife SOLDIER 1st Class DLC pack when you pre-order, as well!

Much like in LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII, time is limited with this pre-order offer, so march over to a participating retailer to preorder LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII. We’ve made this decision easier than choosing to go on a date with Aeris or Tifa, so what are you waiting for? Get out there and preorder LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII now!

LIGHTNING RETURNS: FINAL FANTASY XIII is coming to PS3 on February 11th, 2014 for 5999 gil — er, $59.99. Got any questions? Ask away in the comments below, and we’ll get to them faster than it takes to cast Knights of the Round.

Describing a sword and nondescript armor as “epic” seemed like a good idea to whatever rube flung this at a blog post like a big sticky booger he thought was totally awesome, bro. Of course, stupidity like this isn’t going to stop people from preordering at the lamestops…

Nope. I won’t support this manipulative behavior. It’s dirty and low. SE can’t manage to make a good Final Fantasy anymore, so they’re piggybacking on the success of the people who made the games we remember and love–people who no longer work for Square Enix. FFVII was made great by Hironobu Sakaguchi–he’s gone. That fanfare? Nobuo Uematsu–also gone.

FFXIII was a decent RPG but a poor excuse for a Final Fantasy. The same was true of XIII-2. They know Lightning Returns is a money-grab–this is just another taproot down into your wallet. They’re tricking long loyal customers into thinking this is something it isn’t. They’re making garbage smell like your favourite food.

Lightning was always supposed to be Cloud 2.0, but now they’ve given up all pretense. I’m surprised they didn’t just insert Cloud in, wrap some half-assed, horribly written story around the whole thing and call it canon.

It just makes me sad that they respect their own franchise so little, when people around the world respect it so much.

FF ain’t what it used to be. Which is too bad, because it used to be great.

I was already sold as soon as I heard the game was being made. I love the fact Square still makes RPGS instead of shooters and First person action games pretending to be RPGS.(mass effect is not an RPG). This year and next is gonna be great. Lightning Returns, Kingdom Hearts HD, Final Fantasy 14 and 15, Kingdom Hearts 3. Amazing.

One last thing. Thankyou for not giving in to these people who want a hd remake of 7. Some greatness should be left just as it is.

Legitimate question… if I already pre-ordered from Amazon before this announcement, will I still get this bonus DLC? Or do I have to cancel and re-order to get it?

Comment… considering that Lightning is indeed a girl, I would have thought a complete Tina Bradford outfit, complete with green hair and purple outfit, would have been a better outfit. At least make that another option. Since the game is DLC-capable, Square Enix should be able to implement it in the future, unless it’s all on-disc DLC.

This wanna be does not deserve to even come close go anyyhing FF7. Square drop Enix already. You just crapped on what old school fans you had left with this. What a disrespect to Cloud and to me. No SE I will not waste my time or money on this junk of a game.

One could question whether putting that uniform on Lightning is a good idea… Do we get Tifa “clothes” for FF15? Then by FF56 you will have all the assets of FF7 rendered high-def and we will finally get the remake we all wanted in the first place?

@28: If they re-release FFVII the first thing I will do is rename Aerith to Aeris. ;)

Oh, and Square-Enix, while I’ve got you here: Please release the PSP versions of FF1, FF2, and both Star Ocean games on the US PSN Store and make them playable on the Vita. Please! I want to give you my money!

…….. I really don’t know where to begin. I feel like I’ve been insulted in a few different ways. Look I’d like a strong female character in my games, but I don’t share the same weird fetish for Cloud that some of my fellow FF friends have. This just seems desperate and I think I’m going to stick to my guns on waiting for this to drop in the bargin bin.

If you want me pre-ordering games Square Enix I suggest you release games that aren’t desperate money grabs with desperate money grab DLC. You burned this license out with this nonsense. We warned you when Yoichi Wada said ages ago that Square was going to leverage the brand to not do it and you did it anyway. Now we’re sick of it and no amount of throwin items and branding is going to make any Final Fantasy fan buy this game without question.

Where my Money is:
A Preorder for Final Fantasy 15, it has been for some time.
A Preorder for Final Fantasy 14: a realm reborn
Waiting for a Final Fantasy Type-0 Release